QUEEN'S ROAD: People are indiscriminately dumping pictures and idols of gods and goddesses on the city’s streets.
In the older neighbourhoods of Chamarajpet, Basavangudi, Malleswaram and Banshankari, broken photo frames with pictures of deities such as Narasimha, Parvati, Lakshmi, and Venkateshwara are strewn on the footpaths, near electric poles, and at the foot of trees.
Papier mache Ganeshas, Hanumans, and Shivas are usually dumped beneath peepal and other large trees. Sometimes, they are flung about even on medians and roads.
“On the busy Kathriguppe main road, a broken Ganesha idol was found, but how it came to the middle of the road nobody knows,” said Akilesh, a citizen who later handed it over to a mutt.
The chief priest of the Anjaneya temple in Poornaprajna Nagar says disposal is a big problem. Every day, he sends back people with broken idols and torn pictures. “We have no space in the temple. But how can people just dump pictures and idols they have worshipped?” he said.
He advises the devout to separate the glass, cardboard, wood and nails from the frames. “The torn pictures can be floated in a river,” he said. “Lakes and tanks are already contaminated with garbage and sewage, and not good for pictures and idols.”
Vedic scholar M V Narayan Rao says discarding holy pictures and images on the streets is a practice the devout should avoid. “They should use flowing water, or bury remove the casing and bury the pictures deep in the soil,” he said.
Some rituals must be followed before a holy image can be buried, he explained. Recently, he handed over a damaged Srichakra to the Sringeri Mutt.
In fact, most mutts accept cracked and partly damaged idols, but completely broken ones should be disposed of in water bodies, he said.